You Don't Build A City In A Day
by Allysphere
Summary: Oliver had irrevocally altered the relationship between him and Felicity while they were trying to take down Slade. Now, as they have finally coped with the aftermath and he has come to a conclusions as to how to go forward, changing circumstances in Felicity's life force him to reevaluate his decisions again. [Set in the summer before season 3]
1. Chapter 1

Diggle was suspicious. Truth be told, he had been suspicious for some time now and it looked as if whatever had caused this feeling would finally become clear. Admittedly, the last few weeks, months even, had been stressful, to say the least. Always one thing after the other. Sara Lance had come back from the dead, bringing the League of Assassins with her. And since death apparently wasn't a thing on Oliver's fantasy island, of course his former-best-friend-turned-arch-enemy also came to town not long after, as if to hold a 'Hey, I was stranded on Fantasy Island and everybody thought I was dead, but surprise, I'm not' club meeting of the hellish kind.

In the chaos that followed, Diggle lost sight of what was going on in his friends' life. He was not proud of it, but to be honest, with his unofficial position as Team Arrow's resident agony aunt, he had his hands full even at the best of times. Between Roy's and Oliver's worry about Thea, Oliver's attempts to resolve whatever had happened between himself and Felicity as well as his own coming to terms with having a baby with his ex-wife-turned-girlfriend-hopefully-future-ex-ex-wife, Team Arrow had enough issues to keep a psychologist busy for a lifetime, at the very least.

And now it looked as if whatever Felicity was working through needed her immediate and undivided attention. Something Oliver clearly didn't like all that much.

"What do you mean you are leaving?" Oliver asked her, as if he had heard the word for the very first time in his life.

The IT expert didn't even look up from the lines of code she was working on. "It means that I packed my bag and I'm getting on a plane in the very near future. And by near future I mean in a few hours." She paused and mentally played back whatever she had said. Hm. Yeah, she could see where Oliver's sheer disbelief could stem from. " I didn't say I was leaving leaving. I'm going on a vacation. Taking a few days off. Maybe a week." Now she turned around to look at her boys, as she was wont to affectionately call them in her head. Not out loud. Never out loud. Not since the one time it accidentally slipped out during one of her infamous rambles and she had gotten herself into the mess of explaining that she didn't mean it like my boys my boys. Oh boy, she didn't need another round of that particular embarrassment. Thank you very much, but no. "Oh, don't look at me like that." Leaning back against her hand-picked, hard searched for, perfection of a chair, she focused on Oliver.

"At least I'm telling you. After the Undertaking you left without a word to anybody. For all Diggle and I knew you had fallen off the earth. If it were physically possible. Which it isn't. Because the earth is not flat. I mean, you could have fallen into a ditch, but that wouldn't classify as falling off earth." Snapping her mouth shut she stopped herself from breathing so she couldn't go into yet another ramble. No sir, enough of that already in her mind. No need to voice everything.

For a heartbeat or two, Diggle was yet again bystander in a moment in which Felicity and Oliver would disappear into their own bubble. In those moments it seemed as if nothing mattered except for the other person.

"Where are you going?" Oliver's voice sounded surprisingly soft and if Felicity had expected him to fight her on her decision to take a break, she didn't show it. Maybe her poker face was improving.

"Vegas."

"Vegas?" Oliver echoed rather unintelligently and shot Diggle a look as if to say 'Vegas? What is she doing there?', but Dig didn't pay him any attention, rather he focused on Felicity, as if she were a puzzle that needed solving.

The blonde finished writing another line of code and turned around again. "I haven't seen my mom in a while and before she decides to come visit me unannounced, I figured it would be a good time to go. The criminals are as quiet as they'll probably ever be and I dumbed down my programs enough so that all of you can operate them." She nervously wrung her hands and avoided Diggle's attempts at making eye contact in an expert fashion. "And realistically, it's probably going to be a long time, before I can get away again. You got QC back, but it's going to take a while before it's up and running smoothly. And let's face it, since I'm not your assistant anymore, my workload has lessened extremely. Not that I'm complaining. I just…" She shrugged her shoulders helplessly.

"…need a break", Diggle finished for her, nodding in understanding.

Felicity smiled weakly, thankful for her friend's support. She was going to need it, if the way Oliver tensed was anything to go by. So much for hoping that for once he wouldn't pull the wounded grumpy bear routine. Squaring her shoulders she fixed him with a determined look. "I'm not going to ask for permission."

Once again Diggle was reduced to being the bystander to their silent battle of wills.

"Okay," Oliver finally relented. "We need you rested."

Satisfied to have gotten her way at least once Felicity nodded and turned around to finish with all the upgrades to their system she deemed necessary for her boys to survive the next few days without her. And hopefully without getting themselves hurt because they were caught unaware by something she could have easily warned them about if she would have been here.

With her back to her two partners she didn't see the way Oliver's shoulders dropped slightly and with a long lasting glance he went off to the work out area, obviously determined to take his frustration out on another training dummy. Digg sighed silently, shaking his head at his two friends. When would they ever work out whatever was between them? Probably when I'm grey and old, he thought to himself while dragging a second chair next to Felicity's and sitting down.

For a few moments she continued working without paying him any mind, ignoring his probing gaze. When she had finally finished with everything she had wanted to get done before leaving her boys on their own, she exited the last program and nodded satisfied. Even Roy should be able to work the computers with the shortcuts she had just finished programming. And she vowed to have all members of Team Arrow undergo a rigorous computer training program after she came back. Just to be on the safe side. Although the thought of Diggle's stubby finger's typing away on her ergonomic keyboards or Roy eating whatever they had ordered that day and spreading the food all over her work station made her rethink that decision. And let's not get started about Oliver screwing with the chair she had taken so long to adjust for maximum comfort.

She sighed. Maybe she shouldn't go. There's no telling what her fellow team members would do to her system.

"Do you need me to drive you to the airport?" Diggle startled her out of her train of thought. Maybe that was just what she needed, before she really changed her mind and stayed, somebody else driving her.

Felicity patted his arm and grinned at him. "Thank you. I was going to take a taxi." She refrained from making another joke about him taking his job as a driver serious. That had already gotten him annoyed with her once in the last few weeks. No need for a repeat, thank you very much.

She ducked under the desk to check if she had forgotten any shoes - so what if she took them off after a long day of work and sometimes forgot a pair - and narrowly avoided bumping her head when Oliver startled her by saying, "Let Dig drive you, please."

Half her mind was set on tearing him a new one for scaring her like that,yet again, while the other half contemplated getting a bell for him, so he wouldn't be able to sneak up on her again. (She knew for a fact that it freaked Roy out as well. Not that he had the guts to say anything. Which she kind of understood. Oliver would only make him slap water again, and to tell the truth, she was probably as sick of seeing Roy slap a bowl of water as he was of having to do it. Better for all involved if she didn't say anything.)

In the end she settled for teasing him. "Look at you. Learning to say please." She briefly smiled at him, before grabbing her jacket from her chair and issued Oliver with a last stern warning. "Try not to break my computers while I'm gone."

Oliver raised both arms in a gesture of surrendering. "Don't worry, we won't hurt your babies." At least he didn't plan on doing anything that might damage one of her computers. There was no telling what she would do in retaliation.

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him, took another look around, as if she wasn't sure she'd ever see all of it again, and followed Diggle, who had already left to get to bring the car around.

After a quick detour to get her suitcase from her apartment they were finally well on their way to the airport. For a while no one talked, Felicity watching the scenery pass them by on the highway and Diggle contemplating how to best approach the topic of her sudden vacation.

"Everything okay with your mom?" He chanced a quick glance at her, before focusing on the traffic again.

The blonde made a point of not looking at her friend. "Can't a girl visit her only family without having a reason?" For a moment she continued staring out of the window. When it didn't seem as if Diggle would carry on with the conversation she helplessly shrugged her shoulders. "Look, sometimes a girl needs her mom."

"You know you can talk to me if something is bothering you? I know Oliver offered to listen whenever you need someone, but if you want to talk about whatever happened between the two of you while we took down Slade, I'm here for you." It was clear that whatever was going on with her, she didn't want to talk about it. For now he allowed her to take the easy way out, but Diggle vowed to himself that if she came back and whatever she was preoccupied with hadn't resolved itself, he would make her talk.

"I know, Dig. Thank you. You are the best friend a girl could ask for." What she had done to deserve a friend like Diggle, she didn't know, but who was she to question it? "And I'll probably take you up on that offer after I get back," she promised and it made it easy for Diggle to let the issue go for now.

Soon they had reached the airport. Despite Diggle's vehement protest Felicity refused to let him accompany her to the check in counter. Instead she had hugged him close and told him, "Take care of Lyla."

Maybe Felicity shouldn't have worried so much about about Diggle's ability to take care of his girlfriend, but rather about his ability to keep Oliver sane while she was gone. Truth be told, two days after Felicity had left, Diggle had given up on trying to talk sense into Oliver. Whether his friend wanted to admit it or not, her absence took its toll on him. But seeing as he refused to talk about what was bothering him - not that it took a genius to figure that out, at least not after having spent the last two years closely working together with the two people responsible for his current job as resident vigilantesitter - all Diggle could do was let his friend wallow in self pity and if possible keep him from harming their training equipment or Roy. Or both. Depending on whether the newest addition to Team Arrow could keep from subtly teasing Oliver whenever he got the chance, or not. If Felicity decided to stay away for much longer, he would have to have a serious talk with their youngster. Or he could sit back and watch Oliver making him slap bowls of water again.

"Alright, who left the lights on? I swear it wasn't me this time," Roy declared as soon as he had entered the lair, lest Oliver mercilessly wipe the floor with him again under the guise of calling training, just because his protégé forgot to turn down the lights again before heading out.

"Felicity!" he exclaimed when he saw the familiar blonde sitting in front of the computers again. Roy barely bothered with putting his bow down properly - he was sure Oliver would be on his case again for that, but right now he could live with it - before hugging Felicity. "Don't leave me alone with them again, please", he whispered into her ear, loud enough for Diggle, who had come down after him, to hear.

The blonde chuckled and hugged Roy tighter. "Awww, did you miss me?"

"Nah," the young man shrugged nonchalantly and finally let go of her, so Diggle could greet her with one of his famous hugs, "wouldn't even have noticed you were gone if it weren't for Mr. Broody and all the bruises he gave me."

Diggle shook his head in amusement. That boy certainly had a death wish.

"Well, I definitely didn't miss you, Harper. You forfeited your right to a souvenir, just so you know," Felicity told Roy, but the fond way she reached up to ruffle his hair gave her true feelings away.

"It's good to have you back," Diggle told her and took a minute to study her. She looked better than before she left. More rested, lighter. As if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. He realized now was not the time to get answers from her, but later he would make sure to talk to her alone.

"Did all the testosterone get to you?" Felicity continued teasing her quasi younger brother while hugging her quasi older brother.

"It's too quiet without you. Oliver's not known for chattering away." Meet John Diggle. Master of the understatement.

"Where is he, anyway?" Felicity asked after she had finally let go of Diggle and still hadn't seen Oliver.

Her question made said man step away from the display case from where he had watched their reunion after he had put away his bow, not sure if he was invited as well or not.

"How's your mom?" he asked, slowly coming nearer. He tried to hide the insecurity that plagued his every interaction with Felicity since the fateful moment in the mansion, but judging by the knowing glint in Diggle's eye whenever he talked to Felicity, or was somewhere around Felicity in general, he probably didn't do to good a job.

Felicity's smile grew wider as she finally saw him again. "She's good", she said. "Surprised to see me and everything. But she's good."

Silence settled over the lair, Oliver content with just having Felicity back where - in his opinion - she belonged, Diggle and Roy not wanting to disturb whatever moment their two friends were having and Felicity trying hard not to try and wring her hands or worse, start babbling. Which, of course, in the end she failed to accomplish.

Unnerved by the silence, she began, "So, you know how I told you I would talk to you after I came back?" She looked from Diggle to Roy, for the moment trying not to lose whatever courage she had left by looking at Oliver. "Yeah. I thought about how to start and everything, because, let's face it, I knew I would start babbling, and as soon as I start babbling there's no knowing what will come out of my mouth." She took a quick breath, but didn't stop talking. "And maybe we should sit down for this. I'm sure I should sit down for this, because my legs are feeling all wobbly again, and I'm sure this time it isn't because my heel is close to breaking, not like at prom-"

She started gesturing around, trying to remember if they even had four chairs down here - and if they didn't have four chairs why didn't they have enough chairs for everybody to sit down? And why was she thinking about this now? "Felicity, calm down." She nearly jumped out of her skin, not having noticed that Diggle had come closer again and had startled her out of her tirade by putting a hand on her shoulder.

Like a deer caught in the headlights she stared at him and said, "I'm pregnant." As soon as she had said the words she snapped her mouth shut, as if by doing so she could talk back what she had just said, as if it weren't true.

And suddenly the puzzle pieces fell into place.

Felicity seemed surprised that those words had really left her mouth and Diggle decided to take pity on her. God knew what would happen if he didn't take charge now. Well, to be honest, he envisioned they would have to replace yet another training dummy and he or Roy or both of them would get bruised again because Oliver needed someone to take his anger out on.

"I didn't know you were seeing anybody," he said softly, conscious of his position right between Felicity and Oliver.

"I'm not," she denied, but she wouldn't be Felicity if she left it at that. Of course she tried to explain. "I mean, obviously I was seeing a guy. And it wasn't seeing as in dating, more in like seeing each other naked. But just a few times. And apparently that's enough to seal the deal."

"Felicity." This time it was Oliver trying to get her back on topic and judging by the surprised raise of Roy's eyebrow, Diggle was certain that their youngest member was also taken by surprise that their de facto leader took part in their discussion instead of just listening and later stalking away and sulking over it.

"Right", Felicity said to herself. "But he's not in the picture is what I meant to say."

As if on cue both Diggle and Oliver sighed audibly, although suffice to say that Oliver sounded slightly relieved.

"Are we happy about this?" Roy inserted himself back into the conversation, when nobody else seemed to want to say anything.

Felicity smiled a little. "We are getting there."

"Good. That's good," Oliver nodded, somewhat lost in his own world.

Roy, however, took the chance to might light of their changed situation. "You know that I'm going to tell you 'I told you so', right?" With a spring in his step he walked up to Felicity, slung an arm over her shoulders, and dragged her away with him. "I told you that guy was bad news."

Roy's muffled 'oof' told Diggle that Felicity had retaliated by punching his arm. Good on her. "Oh, shut it, Harper," they heard him say as they watched them walk away.

Squaring his shoulders Diggle mentally prepared for talking some sense into his friend again. By the looks of it, Oliver was in dire need of it. Things certainly never got boring around here.


	2. Chapter 2 - I'm my own Prince Charming

Chapter 2 - I'm my own Prince Charming

"That's it", Diggle said, only slightly out of breath and arms akimbo. "That's the third time in a row that I got a hit in, if I didn't know better I'd say you are getting old."

Oliver didn't deem it important enough to react to his friend's taunts, too used to them already. He wouldn't get a rise out of him this time. He had quickly learnt his lesson, namely that Diggle would pounce as soon as he saw the slightest sign of emotional vulnerability. Instead, he kept twirling the stick in his hand, dripping with sweat, the stick as well as he himself, and silently planned his next attack. He wouldn't let Diggle get in another lucky hit. He wouldn't live that down, he knew for sure.

At least that's what he had planned. In reality it didn't work out like that. He should have known better. When was the last time something actually worked out the way he wanted it to? Seemed like a lifetime ago. Before he went on the Gambit, before he started his crusade, before everything he touched seemed to turn bad.

Smack.

Diggle had hit him again and the smirk on his face let Oliver know that he wouldn't let him live it down easily. Well, Oliver figured, as long as Roy wasn't witness to his sloppiness, all was still relatively well. Their youngster would never listen to his advice ever again if he had seen Diggle wipe the floor with him.

The towel Diggle threw his way also nearly ended up in his face. He shook his head. He really had to focus on the matter at hand or else they'd think he was getting soft.

"Where's your head at?" Diggle asked, ever present knowing glint in his eyes. Oh how Oliver would have liked to wipe that smug smile off his face. But to do that he would've had to gain the upper hand in their fight, which, suffice to say, he hadn't today. And he was sure that he would feel it in the coming days, judging by the bruises already starting to form.

Instead he focused all his energy on not provoking Diggle's need to inquire about his emotional state anymore than he already had. "Save it, Digg." He didn't bother denying that there was something going on. It would only give Diggle more ammunition. And he really didn't need encouragement.

"You don't know what I wanted to say", Diggle said, wiping down the equipment they had used, before Felicity could lay in on them again for "sweating up the place" in their need to "put on a testosterone fueled show". Her words, of course, not theirs. Although Diggle had to agree when it came to Oliver's salmon ladder routine. The boy made damn sure that he was within Felicity's sight when he did it.

For a second Oliver stopped putting away their gear to throw his friend a look. He didn't need to bother actually saying the words. Diggle understood him perfectly well without having to actually articulate his thoughts. So he let him be again. At least for a little while, until the younger one thought himself safe from his inquiries again. Or until he again showed signs of actually needing someone to talk. Not that he ever really was. Getting something out of their first resident vigilante usually wasn't pleasant and it mostly involved more Vodka than Diggle wanted to. (Lyla never let him hear the end of it after he came home slightly drunk the month before.)

So he limited himself to watching Oliver repeatedly turn his phone off and on again, as if waiting for something to change. A deep sigh escaped him. Oliver had never taken much care to take his phone with him wherever he went, but over the last few months, ever since they beat Slade and his army, his phone had never been far from his reach, but during the last week, first with Felicity's mini-vacation and two never returned phone calls to Thea, that phone had become his ever present companion.

"Still no answer?" Diggle asked. It had taken him days and half a bottle of Vodka to get Oliver to talk about what was bothering him this time: Thea still being away.

Apparently no answer was enough of an answer.

"You know, you could ask Felicity to look into it", he suggested gently, not sure if that particular suggestion was welcome at the moment.

"Diggle." It obviously wasn't, but he wasn't about to open that can of worms.

"I'm just saying." With that he let the matter drop for now.

With a last angry stab at his - presumably silent - phone, Oliver said, "I actually need to go."

Any other time Diggle would have suspected he just wanted to end the conversation in this instance he knew he was telling the truth and once again the older one was left to finish clean up.

While Oliver silently willed his phone to finally ring and put him out of his misery, Felicity wished her phone would stop ringing. Alright, it had stopped ringing a while ago, but that was because she put it to silent. Now it only kept buzzing with every new text and unanswered call. An innocent bystander might have suggested she just answer one of the texts or calls, but Felicity knew better. Ever since she had visited her mother and had taken the time to explain in detail - too much detail, if you asked Donna - to her mother, how texting worked, her phone hadn't stopped ringing. Not when she was still sitting in Donna's living room, trying to come to terms with the changes her live was going through, and certainly not after the mother-daughter duo finally parted ways at the airport. No thing was too unimportant or too little not to be mentioned in a text message. Be it that Donna's coworker finally figured out she - the coworker, not Donna - was gay, or that the cute guy Felicity had had a class with ages ago was getting a divorce, everything needed to be shared with Felicity. Whether she wanted to know about it, or not.

So far, Felicity had tried to be patient with her mother. During her visit in Vegas, the two blondes had taken the time to get to know one another again, and maybe for the first time since Felicity had been old enough to have her own opinion and to make decisions on her own, they were seeing eye to eye again. At least for the most part. Their opinions on what needed to be shared immediately, and exactly how many text messages were too many, still differed. But Felicity realized that her mom only wanted what was best for her. Even if that meant letting your underage daughter move across the country to follow her dreams and probably never return.

It could be said that her little trip to Vegas was enlightening in more ways than one. And as much as she appreciated the fact that their mother-daughter relationship seemed to be on the right track for once, the continuous buzzing got on her nerves.

Especially since Felicity needed all her brain power to decided whether she needed long-grain or medium grain rice. Who knew that there were so many rice varieties? Certainly not the blonde standing in the rice aisle, looking a bit lost. Even Google hadn't been ably to help her, it only confused her more, because what exactly was Wehani rice and how was it different from Nishiki rice?

Putting the shopping basket down she looked at the recipe on her phone again (of course not without seeing that her mother had sent her another emoji filled text). Rice. The recipe only said rice. How was she to now which rice to buy?

Very early on in her life had Felicity realized that she was above average intelligent, but she also realized that neither she nor her mother had any cooking talent whatsoever. And it hadn't improved. Obviously, since she only just discovered that there were more than one type of rice, but that didn't deter her.

After finding out that she was pregnant, Felicity had taken stock of her life. Rather, she had to, whether she wanted to or not. (At least after she first ignored all the signs and then started to freak out as soon as the pregnancy test turned out positive.) Now the first thing on her list of things to do before the baby came - she didn't want to think about it yet - was to learn how to cook, so they wouldn't starve to death and her child - she was going to have a child! She was going to be someone's mother! - wouldn't be the one to tell her teacher that mommy only ordered food and burned even ready meals. Which she might have done in grade school. Donna still wasn't amused. And before that - let's not start thinking about the kid starting school before it was even out of the oven, before Felicity even knew whether she would have a son or a daughter - every blog she had read mentioned how important it was, to eat healthy. Not that she hadn't already known that - hello, genius, remember - but being responsible for another - very defenseless and vulnerable - human being bumped learning how to cook up on her list of important things she had to do. Right.

Maybe she should have started with something easier than rice. Maybe pasta. What could go wrong with pasta? Knowing Felicity, a lot.

And of course everything went wrong. First she burned the water. How that was even possible, she didn't know, but it had definitely happened. Then, to be on the safe side, she put the noodles into the pot first, and then added water. Didn't turn out too good, either. Who knew cooking was so hard? And really, those noodles should have come with an instruction manual.

So Felicity opted for Big Belly burger before starting her night job and also vowed never to touch her stove again, no matter what.

That's how Diggle found her sitting in front of her computers, still munching on some fries, quietly muttering about cooking and stupid rice.

"Hey", he greeted her, putting down his jacket and coffee-to-go cup on the table next to her before leaning against it. "You were gone quickly yesterday. I didn't even get to say goodbye." He had expected her to come and talk to him after her and Roy had finished bickering like the siblings they weren't, but she hadn't. Instead Roy had come to tell him that he would had home early.

"Yeah, sorry, jetleg hit me really bad", she apologized with a wry smile.

Diggle huffed a silent laugh. "Vegas and Starling are in the same time-zone, Felicity", he stated and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He wouldn't fall for her doe-eyed look, no. He had plenty of practice now, seeing as Lyla used the exact same look to get him to fulfill her every craving in the middle of the night.

Oh, but she did try, but a simply raise of his eyebrow made her give in. "You might have a point there." Sighing she started spinning her chair. "Turns out dealing with my mom and trying to grow a human body is really exhausting."

Now that he did believe, not at least because of his own impeding fatherhood. "So I've heard repeatedly over the past few weeks." Felicity snorted. And he didn't even know Donna.

"Here", Diggle said, offering her the cup he had put on the table.

Felicity eagerly reached for it, but turned cautious when the undeniable smell hit her. "What's that?"

"Decaf coffee", he answered and he would have laughed about the way her eyes lit up when she took the first sip of it if he wasn't sure that pretty soon she and Lyla would become best friends and he would get chewed out for making fun of a pregnant woman.

"Ooooooh." Felicity closed her eyes in delight, savoring the taste. "Lyla has trained you well."

"See if I bring you coffee again", he grumbled good heartedly. They both knew he would never say no if she asked.

After studying her for a minute he decided to finally ask her what he had wanted to know since she dropped the news on them the day before. "Soo, want to tell me about the father?"

For a second she stopped spinning in her chair and narrowed her eyes at him. "Did Oliver put you up to this?"

Not the slightest bit hurt that she didn't think Diggle himself would think of asking, he simply told her, "Felicity, we both know Oliver has issues to keep multiple psychologists in business if he finally started talking about them. I think he's starting to work through some of them right now and has enough on his plate." Then he added, "And he's not the best at multitasking."

She couldn't help but snort. Multitasking definitely wasn't something she associated with their resident green vigilante, especially when it came to problems in his personal life. "So you won't tell him anything I tell you?" she wanted to assure herself anyways.

"Not if you don't want me."

For a second she seemed unsure. Felicity knew, sooner or later Oliver would want to know about it too, and wouldn't it be better coming from Diggle and not from her? At least for her it would be better.

"Maybe it would be best if you told him about Dickward, because telling Oliver about the guy I slept with and who got me pregnant really doesn't sound like fun to me." No, no. Getting braces again sounded more fun, even moving in with her mother sounded more appealing than telling Oliver about the guy she slept with.

"Dickward?" Diggle echoed.

"Roy's nickname for him." She carefully placed the empty cup far away from her precious computers.

"Roy met him?

Felicity wasn't sure, but to her it sounded is if Diggle was slightly hurt that Roy - the newest addition to the team at that - knew about Dickward and she felt a bit defensive. "It wasn't planned, but he took me home when I had car troubles a while ago and Dick- Edward was waiting for me in front of my apartment." She explained quickly, careful not to go off on a tangent again. "He wasn't to friendly with Roy." She snorted. "Or anyone he thought beneath him, to be honest." She sat still, contemplating that for a bit. Maybe this could all have been avoided if she hadn't been so blind.

Sensing that their talk could take some time, Diggle pulled up another chair and sat down next to Felicity. "You never told us you were seeing anybody."

His friend helplessly shrugged her shoulders. "Because I wasn't. I mean it was only for sex because a woman also has-" Taking a deep breath she stopped herself. They all knew what would happen once she started babbling. "You know what, stop me right here before I tell you about my very mediocre sex life. Please. You know me. If you don't stop me now I'll just keep babbling", she told him, eyes wide, as if she herself didn't want that to happen.

Despite the situation Diggle had to smile. Only Felicity could turn this into a situation that could potentially damage them both for their lives. He took pity on her. (And on himself. Seriously, she was like a sister to him, no need to talk about her sex life.) "Did you tell him about the baby?"

"Oh yes", she laughed bitterly. "Might have saved my breath for something more productive."

"He bailed on you", Diggle deducted and balled his hands to fists. If only she had told him an actual name he could wring that bastard's neck.

"Couldn't get away fast enough." 10 points to Diggle. "Last I heard he had a job offer in Gotham." She tapped her fingers against the table is if wishing she could hack something. "Although how he gets there, I don't know."

"What?"

"Someone might have put him on the no-fly list?" She said innocently. Not giving her friend enough time to digest what she had just said she continued on, "Look, I can fight my own battles. So tell Oliver to calm down. Nobody needs to defend my honor. I'm my own Prince Charming. Or Princess." Felicity scrunched up her nose. Who cared about princesses and princes anyway? They probably didn't even have wifi.

"Oh please." You didn't have to say anything. You are all so protective of me it wasn't such an outlandish thought that he'd want to go and put an arrow in Dickward." Well, there was no point denying the truth. Although Diggle's weapon of choice certainly wouldn't have been an arrow. Before he could react another thought had occured to her. "Hm. Maybe I could change his name on his birth certificate…" She was in the process of turning back to her computer to try and do exactly that when Diggle stopped her chair.

"Are you alright?" he asked, not letting her break eye contact and wiggle herself out of the situation as she was wont to do.

For a moment it looked like she would downplay the troubles in her life once again, but in the end she patted his arm and assured him, "Don't worry about me, Digg. We Smoak women are made out of the strong stuff."

"I don't doubt that."

"You are the best friend a girl could hope for." She got up to hug him. "And you'll be the best dad possible", she told him with a wink and turned back to her computer, probably making quick work of finding them their 'Villain of the week'.

No moment too soon, seeing as both Roy and Oliver entered the foundry not a second after she had started her programs.

But before they could start their night of fighting crime she had an axe to grind. Turning around to face them she tried using her sternest voice, "Alright, now that all of you are here: Care to tell me who thought it was a good idea to use the tablet as a coaster?" All three of time ducked their heads and if she had let them stew another five seconds she was sure they would have started shuffling their feet and using their combined puppy dog eyes on her like grade students. "I swear, you shouldn't be allowed near a computer system. I'm never leaving again."

As soon as she had turned around both Oliver and Diggle looked at Roy accusingly, but he only raised his hands in defense, not wanting to verbally defend himself lest Felicity thought she wanted to know exactly who had abused her precious piece of technology. They continued their silent blame shifting until Roy finally cracked.

"Where is that constant buzzing coming from?" Roy asked irritated, after having checked his own phone for the sixth time that evening.

"Argh… That's my mom. Believe me, I already regretted explaining to her how to actually send a text not five minutes after I left her at the gate", Felicity explained by way of apology and reached for her bag to finally take care of it.

She was too busy replying to her mother that yes, she was fine, thank you very much and would call tomorrow, to see Oliver glancing a look at his own phone. Diggle certainly noticed, but decided he had played psychologist enough for one day. All of them were certainly old enough - at least on paper, there was no telling their mental maturity - to figure out their own problems.

For once they acted there age when instead of leaving immediately to go on patrol, Oliver hung back to ask Felicity for a favor.

"Could you look up where Thea is? I think it's time she came home."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - And here I thought you are a gentleman

As he crossed the short distance between where he had parked his bike to Big Belly Burger he couldn't help but think back to the first time they had met in that exact same spot to discuss Walter's notebook. Whereas then Oliver had been the first to arrive and choose a place to sit with maximum view over the whole burger joint, this time Felicity had arrived before him, and by the looks of the empty plate in front of her, well before him.

He sat down opposite from Felicity, who shoved the last two fries into her mouth. "I hope it's okay I already ordered," and ate, Oliver thought to himself, but kept the pleasant smile on his face anyway, no need to anger the pregnant lady, even he knew one shouldn't do that, "but I was starving," she said by way of explanation, after having swallowed the last piece of her meal. "But in my defense, they weren't kidding about that whole eating for two thing." She neatly stacked her empty plates and pushed them to the side to have enough space for her milkshake.

Oliver shook his head in disbelieve. How could someone as tiny as Felicity eat all that? "It's really not a problem, Felicity." He eyed the empty burger plate. "No Big Belly Buster today?" Normally the onion always got to be too much for her and she put them on the plate, but not today.

Felicity sighed and put her hands on her belly. "No Big Belly Buster for me in the foreseeable future." She shrugged her shoulders. "Apparently you shouldn't eat too spicy or too belly busting during pregnancy. Fun times ahead."

When Oliver just continued blinking at her confusedly, she gave in to her need to babble in the face of silence. "Seriously, I read all those articles, and let me tell you, some of the stuff…" She waved her hands as if to say, I'm surely not going to tell you all about in relieve the horrors that are internet birth stories, thank you very much. "I'm still surprised that women nowadays voluntarily want to have a baby," she paused, "or more than one." She shuddered involuntarily and a smile played on Oliver's lips. "Honestly, there was this woman, and thinking about it makes me rethink that whole having a baby thing, because-" Felicity looked up and stopped gesturing with her hands. "Why are you smiling like that?" She leaned forward and put a hand to his forehead, as if to measure his temperature. "Are you sick? Do I need to call Dig?"

He playfully batted her hand away just in time for Carly to get their order. "Can I get your order?" she asked, smiling at the pair in front of her, wondering if she had to up her wager with Diggle, about when they'd finally get their act together.

"The usual, please," Oliver said, not bothering to look at the menu. By now all of Team Arrow, not that they called themselves that, only Felicity, Roy and Diggle did, knew the menu by heart.

"With extra fries," Felicity added.

"With extra fries," Oliver told Carly.

"And a milkshake."

"And a milkshake."

"Chocolate," Felicity made sure Carly knew.

Carly shook her head. That boy was smitten and he probably didn't even realize. "Anything else?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow, looking at Felicity questioningly. He only wanted hi usual, she had decided to divert from the norm.

She grinned sheepishly. "I think I'm good for now."

For now. Who know how long her hunger would be sated with the extra fries and the second milkshake they had ordered. Probably not long, judging by the loud growl coming from her stomach.

She mustered him suspiciously. "You are still looking at me like that." This time she restrained herself and didn't touch him. No need to tap against his forehead with her fingers. At least not in public. She still had some dignity left. Some. They'd see how long that lasted. "What's going on in that stubborn head of yours?"

He chuckled under his breath. "You are calling me stubborn?" Only her.

"Well, it's the truth." Oh the headaches he had given Diggle and her over the years… "I bet you could put your head through the wall without hurting yourself because you are so hardheaded."

"Actually…" he started.

"Please don't tell me that actually happened." Her eyes went wide behind her frames. "You are kidding, right?"

Again he chuckled."Yes, I'm kidding, Felicity." The things she did to him… and the things she could do to him if he wasn't careful. He took a deep, sobering breath. No need to let himself be distracted by her colorful personality. At least not more than he already was. "Now, how about you tell me why we are here?"

"Oh, yes, of course." She started rummaging around in her seemingly bottomless purse. "Now, we are here because I was hungry-"

"I can see that," he couldn't help but cut her off.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't interrupt, Mister. I was hungry and Big Belly Burger is the only thing the baby apparently likes enough not to send me praying to the porcelain Gods." Whenever she found herself - yet again - on the knees in front of her toilet, or the other day, embarrassingly enough, in front of the foundry toilet within earshot of Roy, who would never let her live that down, she prayed that the not-so-morning-sickness would soon stop, seeing as she was past the 12th week of pregnancy.

She had finally found her tablet in the depth of her purse. "Now, remember how you were all vague talking about wanting Thea to come home without actually asking me to track her down?"

"Yes."

"Well, I just did what you didn't really ask me to do." Because of course he couldn't just ask her to do it. It had been painful to watch, really, at least according to Diggle and Roy, the resident experts in watching their two friends talk to each other, but not really, more likely talking about unimportant things while hoping they conveyed enough subtext to discuss the important things. Like finding Thea. He hadn't outright asked her to help him, but rather talked about the importance of family and how he wanted her to come home.

"I tracked her down for you," she said softly, not wanting to spook the proverbial deer.

He took a deep breath, his face serious. "You found her?" As if he didn't want himself to hope.

"Why do you always sound so surprised? It's not like Thea is some kind of genius computer wizard who can hide her trail very well." Not that they knew of, at least.

"So you found her?" he asked again, needing to be sure, needing to hear the words, Felicity realized.

"Oh, yes. Yes."

Before she could explain further, Carly arrived with their food. And while Oliver didn't touch his, Felicity distracted herself with her fries for a minute. "You probably won't like what I'm about to tell you next."

"What is it?" he asked and for once not rubbing the tips of his fingers together, but rubbing his hands against his thighs nervously.

Felicity set her second milkshake down and finally explained. "She was never in Europe. The whole time she's been on Corto Maltese."

"Corto Maltese?" Oliver echoed unintelligently.

Felicity rolled her eyes and opened an app on her tablet. "Yeah, smallish island off the coast of-"

Again Oliver interrupted her.

"I know where Corto Maltese is. We used to have a beach house there."

And Felicity felt the need to roll her eyes again. "Of course you did." Billionaires. More money than was good for them. Who needed a beach house in Corto Maltese? "Now that makes sense."

"So, Corto Maltese," he tried to get her back on track, seeing as she was busy with her tablet.

"Yeah. As far as I was able to find out, she's working at a café there." She handed her precious tablet to him, mindful that he hadn't yet started eating and therefore wouldn't grease up her precious piece of tech. "I pulled this off of a surveillance camera," she explained.

Oliver traced the picture on the screen with his finger. "She looks happy."

"She does," Felicity confirmed with an indulgent smile. "And she's totally rocking that bob."

Oliver stared at her.

"What, I'm just saying," she defended herself. Just because Oliver had no sense of style when it came to his hair, oh yes, she had seen enough pictures of Ollie to last a live time, didn't mean that everybody else also didn't.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet." She heaved a deep sigh. "You haven't heard all of it yet." Why couldn't things be simple for once? Just once. They deserved to catch a break every once in a while. After the thing with the Undertaking, then Slade…

"What else is there?" He tiredly rubbed his hands over his face.

"So," Felicity started gently, "seeing as your family had a house there it's not too far fetched to think that a certain former family friend turned assassin turned terrorist has some assets there as well."

"Merlyn," he groaned.

"Yeah. I haven't been able to trace him there, but that doesn't mean anything." Felicity worried her lower lip between her teeth, seemingly disappointed in herself that she hadn't been able to find anything to proof her suspicions.

"So she could be there with Merlyn," Oliver voiced her suspicion and probably his greatest fear.

"I'm sorry." She reached across, taking his hand, trying to give him some comfort. "That's not what you wanted to hear." She really hated being the bearer of bad, or semi-bad news.

"At least now I know where she is." For once in his life Oliver decided it was best seeing the glass as half full.

"What are you going to do?" Felicity asked after minutes of silence in which Oliver had only picked at his food (and she had stolen maybe one or two fries. Or six.)

He stared out of the window, silently chewing and mulling over the possible solutions in his brain.

"I'll go there," he finally decided.

"Want a piece of advice?" Felicity asked, pushing the empty milkshake glass out of the way and so she could lean forward with the elbows on the table and not having to worry about her hair meeting the milkshake.

Oliver mimicked her position, pushing the remaining fries in her direction. "Do I have a choice?"

"Well, no."

Of course he didn't. Stupid question. When had she not told him what she thought he should do. (And when had she not been right?) Probably never. (On both accounts, not that he'd ever tell her that, not even under the threat of torture.)

Looking around the room, making sure that nobody was listening to them, she said, "Tell her about your little secret."

He didn't outright refuse her suggestion. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" But he didn't accept it, either. Felicity - and Diggle and Roy, and whoever else you asked - was most certainly right about him being more stubborn than was good for himself.

Again she took his hand in hers, drawing his attention back to her. "Oliver, what was the reason she left? The reason she was so angry with you?"

"I…" He took a deep breath and looked away again. Another topic he wasn't too fond of talking about. "She didn't like being lied to." And wasn't that just ironic? "She was angry because we kept things from her." He should have listened when the tiny voice in his head he usually refused to listen to, told him that it was probably the right thing to do, to tell her. "But it was for her best." At least that was what his mother thought. What he thought. And look at where that got them. His mother was dead and Thea was in Corto Maltese, worst case scenario with Malcom fucking Merlyn.

"Oliver, you didn't just keep from her that you once forgot to buy your mom flowers for mother's day, you kept something important from her, something that concerned her," she implored, making sure to look him straight in the eyes. "It doesn't matter if you thought it was in her best interest, some things shouldn't be kept from the people it concerns."

He remained silent, but broke eye contact, something that showed Felicity that he probably understood her reasoning. He'd better, if he knew what was good for him. There was no telling what how angry of a tech person she'd become if her dearest vigilante refused to listen to her, again.

"She is the only blood relative you have left." That should count for something. "You miss her." Despite how much he tried to hide it, not only Diggle had noticed him checking his phone seemingly every five minutes in the hope that Thea finally told him she'd come home. "What are you so afraid of?"

He pulled his hand away from her. "I killed people, Felicity. As the Arrow, the Hood, before that…" He didn't need to look at her for her to see how much self loathing there still was in him and would probably always be.

But she wouldn't be Felicity if she let him get away with it. "She is your sister, Oliver." Granted, she didn't have any siblings, but wasn't that how it worked? "She loves you." Even behind the angry veneer you could see that. "I'm sure she's smart enough to understand why you did it." At least Felicity hoped it was the truth. Nevertheless she implored once again, "But she can only do that if you tell her."

She let him digest all of that, letting him look out of the window, watching the people passing by, not knowing that the vigilante watching over them at night sometimes needed someone to watch over him and his feelings as well.

"I am not saying you have to bare your soul to her, but, maybe, think about letting her in on the big green secret."

Gathering the last of her resolve and trying to just take the chance, she added, "Not only for your sake, but Roy's as well."

With that he looked at her again, nodding slightly.

"Any more unsolicited advice?"

"Oh, yes, plenty." Not all was well, but maybe they were on the right track.

"Think about taking Roy with you." Oliver grimaced. "Oh, no," Felicity chided. "Think about it before you flat out refuse." Seriously, why would he never think about a decision and looking at it from every point of view. "Even as Thea's older brother you have to realize that he really loves her." He grimaced again. "And it wasn't one sided." A frown appeared on his face. "Your secrets not only influenced your relationship with Thea but his also." And finally he sighed again, so she knew she had probably convinced him. Hopefully. "And he's taking it really hard, even if he tries not to let it show and would probably kill me if you tell him I told you that." No really, but… "Take him with you."

Oliver leaned back, silently seizing her up. "When did you get so wise?"

Ah, they were back on lighter topics. Ish. "Oh, you know, motherhood changes lots of things." Lots and lots. "Now, most importantly, do you still want some of those fries or can I have them?"

"Help yourself."

She didn't need to be told twice and withing record breaking time the last few fries had found their end.

They stayed a bit longer, even after Felicity had finished the fries, enjoying just talking to each other, about everything and nothing, no life or death situation.

"You know that I would have told you and Dig if there had been a serious relationship, right?", Felicity just wanted to be sure that he knew that.

"I mean, Roy only found out by accident and because he can be a pest," she felt the need to explain herself, again, this time to Oliver, not trusting Diggle to pass on everything she told him. "I didn't mean to keep anything from you, but there really wasn't much to tell and I don't think that you or Diggle want to think about how I spent my nights after we've finished with our little side business and-"

He finally interrupted her, really not wanting to hear were her ramble would take her. "Felicity, it's alright. I know," he assured her. "As long as you know that you can talk to me, Dig or Roy if there is anything bothering you, or if you need to talk about your day." He smiled at her. "You are entitled to not having to share everything. We all have things in our lives we rather not talk about."

"Oh, you sound very grown up now," she couldn't help but tease. "I'm impressed."

"Well, even I can grow as a person every now and then." He winked at her and her heart might have or might have not skipped a beat or two.

"There might still be hope for you after all."

"Come on, let's go before they run out of fries."

For that she punched his arm with all her might. "And here I thought you were a gentleman!"

And because he was a gentleman at heart, and on accord of slowly getting control over Queen Consolidated back he also paid their bill.

"Oliver?" She stopped on the way to her car.

"Hm?"

"You know that, all joking aside, I think you are a good person? A good man?" He refused to look at her. Apparently the cracks in the pavement were more interesting than her. "And I understand if you don't want to talk about your past even if it were so much less frustrating if you shared vital information with us, your team, before it came back to bite us in the ass." Yeah, despite all her best intentions and understand why it wasn't easy for him to do so, she sometimes couldn't help but think about how much less dangerous some of their adventures would be, if he just learned to open up and warn them in time. "But if you ever want to talk about something, your day, or, I don't know", she shrugged her shoulders, "want to gloat about kicking Dig's ass in training", that finally got him so smile, probably remembering a specific incident, "or if something's bothering you, my door is always open?"

"I know," he told her. "Thank you."


End file.
